A painter finishes off a welcome sign in the window of Broadway Diner. (Photo by Dustin Racioppi; click to enlarge)

By DUSTIN RACIOPPI

A roundup of articles appearing last week here on redbankgreen is below.

In crime news:  A Middletown teen was charged in the death of an 18-year-old passenger back in February. Police also arrested a man for allegedly crashing through a work zone. Federal authorities, in a script sweep that netted 21 arrests, charged a Little Silver doctor with running an illegal prescription ring. Here’s the Red Bank police blotter; here’s Middletown’s.

Fair Haven Councilman Ben Lucarelli, so disturbed by the tenor of a recent zoning board meeting, proposed to disband the board, and the council will launch a “mini summit” to address the concerns.

A Fair Haven resident is none too pleased with the idea of a big black box being planted on River Road, part of a countywide initiative to upgrade aged traffic lights.

Red Bank Mayor Pasquale Menna got a lot of coverage last week, beginning with an announcement that he’s holding informal meetings the next few Saturdays to chat it up with residents. Read more about his first meetup here later. Menna also made a proposal to add valet parking and rooftop dining to the downtown’s summer features, and said the borough will go after state money to continue laying artificial turf at Count Basie Fields.

A day after he and other officials took it on the chin from West Side resident Freddie Boynton over the park’s hours, Menna said the park would be open earlier to accommodate the early risers. He also said there will only be an entry charge at one municipally-owned property — as opposed to three — at Riverside Gardens, for ten bucks to watch the fireworks.

NovelTeas, the West Side’s book-and-beverage hot spot, has changed ownership.

Picture-perfect weather early in the week inspired one artist to visit Rumson for the day to paint a waterfront scene at Victory Park.We snapped another photo of a guy working on a shroomy roof in Red Bank.

Also in Rumson, a money-saving plan by borough officials to reduce its commercial trash pickup has some business owners p.o.’d.

Here’s a local story that crosses state lines, about a Little Silver couple’s surrogacy experience.

And in a  story run by the Star-Ledger, Sea Bright Mayor Maria Fernandes refutes data that says her shore town’s residence are fleeing the beach. In other Sea Bright news, borough Administrator Maryann Smeltzer announced she’s retiring. Here’s her story.

A ‘Done Good’ wrap-up of charitable efforts here.

As always, thanks for reading. If you didn’t catch it, redbankgreen announced that it has joined forces with about 30 other locally-owned and operated news sites in the Authentically Local initiative, more or less a reminder to readers and advertisers that we’re homegrown and have a stake in what’s going on in the area.